tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5252579367105510304.post4913171190919640339..comments2018-02-19T14:27:36.195+11:00Comments on On The Convict Trail: Isle Of The Dead, Port ArthurGeoff Ritchienoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5252579367105510304.post-62235442960544778842017-02-12T00:59:31.818+11:002017-02-12T00:59:31.818+11:00Thank you for such very good photos and comments! ...Thank you for such very good photos and comments! I have been researching a convict who was shipped to Tasmania aged 19 on the Lotus in 1832 and buried on the Isle of the Dead in 1858. Judy Buckleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12351419874944662604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5252579367105510304.post-92104719259865867402015-07-06T18:52:28.809+10:002015-07-06T18:52:28.809+10:00Rev. John Allen Manton, a Wesleyan Missionary was ...Rev. John Allen Manton, a Wesleyan Missionary was appointed as Officiating Clergyman in 1833. It is reported that he dictated that there would be no tombstone or other mark to be placed at the head of the convict graves, and that the only indication of graves reserved for convicts were to be mounds of earth on the southern or lower half of the Island. The high ground on the northern half of the island would be reserved for Civil and Military burials, which were permitted to have headstones.<br />Segregation occurred in death as in life with the free being buried on the high side of the Island and convicts, invalids, lunatics and paupers on the low. Unmarked graves on the lower side roughly aligned east to west. This contrasts to those of the free whose headstones face north; something that is highly unusual as tradition and religious belief dictated that the dead faced east in order to await the Judgement Day. The two possible reasons that have been used in interpretation are that by facing north they faced England and home, or that by facing this direction they had their backs to the convicts.<br /><br />This information sourced from a wonderful PhD thesis “Death &amp; Burial at Port Arthur 1830 – 1877” by Lynette Ross.(1995) &amp; from the Ausemade website (See link on main post)<br />The full thesis is available to download at the UTas Library Open Repository<br />http://eprints.utas.edu.au/16257/<br />Geoff Ritchiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16424900041204521117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5252579367105510304.post-88242070269524849132015-07-02T22:05:45.819+10:002015-07-02T22:05:45.819+10:00I wonder why it was forbidden for markers to be pl...I wonder why it was forbidden for markers to be placed on convict graves. No one would have expected large marble tombs, but even a convict could have had the dignity of a grave marker.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com